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End-of-life study explains what really happens when you hear your last words - Inverse
Our final words to loved ones may not fall on deaf ears. As humans lay dying, new research suggests that one crucial sense is still functioning: The brain still registers the last sounds a person will ever hear, even if the body has become unresponsive.
A study released in June suggests that hearing is one of the last senses to disappear during death. Scientists found that the brains of "actively dying" patients in palliative care (some unresponsive, some still responsive) still registered activity in response to sounds. The patterns of activity were similar to those seen in a sample of healthy controls, suggesting that people still hear as they die.
Importantly there's a difference between hearing something and understanding it. But, what we do know from this work, is that dying loved ones may hear something if we speak to them, explains Lawrence Ward, the study's senior author and a professor at the University of British Columbia.
Our final words to loved ones may not fall on deaf ears. As humans lay dying, new research suggests that one crucial sense is still functioning: The brain still registers the last sounds a person will ever hear, even if the body has become unresponsive.
A study released in June suggests that hearing is one of the last senses to disappear during death. Scientists found that the brains of "actively dying" patients in palliative care (some unresponsive, some still responsive) still registered activity in response to sounds. The patterns of activity were similar to those seen in a sample of healthy controls, suggesting that people still hear as they die.
Importantly there's a difference between hearing something and understanding it. But, what we do know from this work, is that dying loved ones may hear something if we speak to them, explains Lawrence Ward, the study's senior author and a professor at the University of British Columbia.